Lebanese minister says cease-fire needed

Reporter: Kerry O'Brien

KERRY O'BRIEN: Welcome to the program. While Israel's aerial bombardment of Lebanon eased momentarily in the wake of the global revulsion to the slaughter of 52 civilians in the Lebanese village of Qana, fierce fighting has continued on the ground between Hezbollah guerrillas and Israeli forces in the border area of south Lebanon. Despite the 48-hour aerial cease-fire, Israeli aircraft backed up their ground troops with three air strikes overnight. Israel claims to have killed 20 Hezbollah fighters in south Lebanon in the past two days, and says it has killed 200 in the three weeks of conflict. Even so, the Israeli cabinet has announced it will extend and strengthen its ground operations in Lebanon. Meanwhile, the wheels of international diplomacy grind on with no lasting cease-fire in sight, as the numbers of displaced Lebanese swell beyond 1 million, according to the Lebanese Government. Late today I spoke with Lebanon's Social Affairs Minister Nayla Moawad, whose husband, Rene Moawad, was briefly president of Lebanon until his assassination in 1989. His wife has since accused Syria of being behind his death. Minister Moawad recorded the interview from Beirut. Nayla Moawad, how has the Lebanese Government reacted to the news that Israel plans to expand and strengthen its military operations in Lebanon?

NAYLA MOAWAD, LEBANESE MINISTER FOR SOCIAL AFFAIRS: How can we react? We are a country taken in hostage by Israel following an operation that we did not know about, we did not approve about and we did not adopt. So, today we are all this period, we are... we have been living in humanitarian disasters. We are living a security disaster. And we are being - we can't do anything except ask and claim for our right in front of all the international community, claiming for a cease-fire, claiming for a comprehensive cease-fire that would find the means to strengthen the government authority all over the Lebanese territory.

KERRY O'BRIEN: Since the bombing at Qana and the 24-hour cease-fire from Israel to allow civilian movement out of southern Lebanon, you're now having to contend with even more thousands of refugees heading for Beirut. How do you describe the humanitarian situation there right now?

NAYLA MOAWAD: We are living a disaster and the disaster is increasing. Part of them went to Sidon, part of them went to the Shouf and the rest is coming to Beirut. Some of them have relatives here and some are diverted to the north of Lebanon. It... these are numbers that we can hardly organise quickly. Sidon, the population has become twice the volume of the normal population and Beirut and all over Lebanon, we have now above 1,200,000 displaced - I hate saying that they are refugees - and we have to face as much as we can this disaster, but I must say, and I am proud to say, that all the Lebanese are 100 to confront the sequences of this disaster and the civil society, the NGOs, Lebanese and international without, of course, mentioning the Lebanese and international Red Cross and the UN institution are being very helpful and without them it would have been even a bigger disaster.

KERRY O'BRIEN: What do you need now that you don't have to deal with the scale of this crisis?

NAYLA MOAWAD: We need a cease-fire. We need to recover our dignity, our independence, our sovereignty. We need you to help us implementing the state authority to implement and then, everything could be solved and we are trying to solve it. Reconstruction... if the we implement long-lasting cease-fire with all the measures and the prerequisites that will extend the state authority on all of the territory, that will implement the tough agreement that was decided and agreed amongst the Lebanese in '89 and that has never been implemented because of the Syrian domination. We want it now. We want to be sovereign. We want to be independence. And we don't want to see our country being destroyed, our people being killed, wounded, displaced and we want to live a normal life.

KERRY O'BRIEN: From the moment this conflict began, Israel has sought to defend its actions by pointing out that Hezbollah fired the first shot and Israel - and that Hezbollah represents an ongoing threat to Israel. Do you not acknowledge Israel's right to defend itself?

NAYLA MOAWAD: I think - not I think, I can be very positive - that the Israeli retaliation was far too disproportionate with the first military operation by Hezbollah and I say again that we did not want this operation. We did not know about it. In the cabinet we did not adopt it, but we refuse the monstrosity of the retaliation. Children, women, elderly people are being killed. Now we want a cease-fire, but, of course, a cease-fire based on all the points that Prime Minister Fouad Siniora made clear in front of all of the representatives of the international community.

KERRY O'BRIEN: Do you see the hand of Syria behind Hezbollah, and do you acknowledge that the Lebanese Government has been somewhat helpless on the question of disarming Hezbollah?

NAYLA MOAWAD: We see very clearly the hand of Syria and of Iran behind Hezbollah. We have never said we would disarm Hezbollah. We said we would integrate Hezbollah with us in the Cabinet, so they would feel reassured and comforted that they are part of the decision-taking, of the decision-sharing. We were very hopeful that the Hezbollah would be our allies in rebuilding a nation, rebuilding a strong Lebanese state, where, obviously, only the Lebanese army can detain all of the arms and no other faction. Definitely not.

KERRY O'BRIEN: But do you now believe that Hezbollah, because of its actions, has brought this carnage on Lebanon and that Hezbollah must be disarmed as part of any solution and in that question, do you accept this could probably only happen with the help of an international force?

NAYLA MOAWAD: Our Prime Minister who is in charge of leading all the negotiations has been very clear in Rome a few days ago, saying that only the Lebanese security forces led by the Lebanese Army could detain armament and would be the only part that could have armament. This was very clear. This was approved... his seven points was approved and adopted by the whole Government unanimously. He also asked for international forces that would go with the Lebanese Army side by side to implement the cease-fire, to implement the state's authority, to implement the disarmament of Hezbollah. But... all this was very, very clear in front of everyone.

KERRY O'BRIEN: We're about to lose the satellite, but thank you very much for taking time out to give us this interview. Thank you.